About This Property

On Cape Cod’s renowned private island, Oyster Harbors,
this extraordinary estate encompasses more than 26 acres of private,
secure peninsula and is one of the most significant parcels on the
entire East Coast of the U.S. It offers nearly 1,000 ft. of shorefront
as well as spectacular views of the Seapuit River, Sampson’s Island and
beyond to Nantucket Sound. A rare, once-in-a-lifetime jewel, it is
available in its entirety or in individual parcels. A nearly 7,000 sq.
ft. superbly crafted main residence featuring substantial guest and
staff quarters is nestled on over seven exquisitely landscaped acres. It
also hosts a beach house, detached loft studio, classic greenhouses, a
tennis court, seasonal dock, expansive lawns, gardens and orchards. An
additional, very private building site of just over six acres features
nearly 500 feet of Seapuit River frontage and gorgeous river, island and
Sound views. Six additional 2+ acre building lots complete the
property....MORE

From yesterday's Wall Street Journal:Mellon Estate in Antigua Goes on the Market for $14.5 Million

Rachel "Bunny" Mellon has listed her family's longtime Caribbean vacation home in Antigua for $14.5 million.
Ms. Mellon, 101, and her late husband, philanthropist and banking heir
Paul Mellon, began assembling the 27-acre property in the early 1950s
and built the home there; this is its first time on the market. The
home's two master suites overlook Half Moon Bay and flower gardens that
Ms. Mellon, a noted horticulturist who designed the White House Rose
Garden, created. The home has several terraces, a library and an orchid
nursery. There's a guesthouse, pool and pool house, two greenhouses,
vegetable gardens and an orchard....MORE

...Her husband Paul Mellon, scion of the banking family, died in 1999.
While she inherited some of his estate, worth $1.4 billion per the 1998
Forbes 400 rich list, he left much of it to charitable causes. But Bunny
Mellon is rich in her own right, not just by marriage: her father
Gerard Lambert was the one-time president of Gillette and made a fortune
through his Warner-Lambert pharmaceutical company, inventors of the
mouthwash Listerine. Pfizer
bought out Warner-Lambert for $110 billion in 2000; it is unclear what,
if any, stake Bunny Mellon had in the company at that point.

Forbes has been unable to put any sort of definitive number on Mellon’s net worth, although we’re trying ahead of this year’s Forbes 400
list (she’d be America’s oldest billionaire). It appears much of her
fortune is tied up in trusts, and unsurprisingly no-one in her circle is
keen to divulge much information. What is clear is that she is both
extraordinarily wealthy and very private. According to a rare profile in Vanity Fair
— her second interview in over 40 years — she maintains homes in
Antigua, Paris, New York, Washington, Nantucket, and Cape Cod (they’re said to be
fully staffed at all times). Her main residence is a 4,000-acre farm in
Virginia with its own airstrip for her Falcon 2000. Mellon’s art
collection includes Giacomettis and a Rothko worth $125 million, says
VF.

Aside from her wealth and pedigree, Bunny Mellon has led a colorful life, which James Reginato does an excellent job detailing in VF.
She was a close friend of Jacqueline Kennedy, taking the young
president’s wife under her wing and helping design the White House rose
garden. She was renowned as a horticulturalist, but also as a fashion
plate. As Reginato writes,
Givenchy designed her entire wardrobe, down to her underwear and her
servants’ uniforms. She was a socialite and a trendsetter; she learned
pilates from — who else — Joseph Pilates. And she took an interest in
liberal politics. She wanted to help elect John Edwards because she
thought a Democrat in the White House would “save the world.”